Author: Tom
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Stokey means a lot of things to a lot of different people. Which areas, things, places or characters do you love about living here in Stoke Newington, and what do you dislike, hate, avoid or feel is ruining it?

Becky Ford, a local resident and freelance graphic designer, is working on a project to create an alternative map of Stoke Newington as part of her Graphics Design MA, one that captures the spirit of the place through people’s experience of the area, rather than traditional landmarks.

Phew… so only a couple weeks after the Butchers closed its doors to be turned into yet another gastro pub we now have a new late night venue in Stoke Newington. And, fear not, my gentle friends, I’m glad to be able to tell you that it is nothing at all like that fiendish place used to be.

The Washington Rays

The Drop is located just below the Three Crowns, just turn left instead of right once you get inside. It’s a bit of a box of a room with seating along both sides, a stage on one end and a bar on the other. There you have it, easy enough… you won’t get lost in here.

Yesterday I finally sampled the pizza at the latest addition to Stoke Newington Church Street’s Italian Connection, Datte Foco. As someone else has said before me, Datte Foco, which calls itself a “pizza and love joint”, is not like other pizza restaurants out there, and this might be the reason it took me so long to go after they opened in December. The interior is a functional affair somewhere between take-away, caff and restaurant, and the menu and concept takes a bit of getting used to…

Datte Foco - A Pizza and Love Joint

Datte Foco serves pizza al taglio, sort of similar to Soho’s Maletti or Moorgate’s Mangiare… slices of pizza that are in this case prized by weight. The selection available also differs from what you get in most other pizza joints; you definitely won’t find pineapple here, thank you very much. The key here are original Roman creations with simple yet gorgeous toppings. It’s a great concept but it means that the first time you go you will need some time to figure out what your options are.

Isn’t it funny how you can live in a place for 10 years or so, and still there are locations you haven’t explored properly.

La Sera has always been one of those places for me. Tucked in between the Coach & Horses and the 24/7 Turkish supermarket, two of my favourite haunts in Stoke Newington, this seafood restaurant has gone unnoticed in the eight or so years of its existence – at least to me. I occasionally hear that the food is quite good actually, and Luca, the manager, is certainly one of the friendliest people in the Coach a lot of nights, but I’ve never made it inside.

But recently things have started changing, and now La Sera has the potential to become one of the more interesting locations in Stokey. You might have seen tables appearing outside, and every once in a while a large crowd of people seems to appear from out of nowhere. So I just had to ask… and Luca was more than happy to show me around.

The owners (who also run the Bricklayers Arms down in Shoreditch) have recently made some changes… opened the place up so that the downstairs bar is accessible from the restaurant, added a few nice touches like a big sofa in the front… and very soon now, with its new late license, you will find that there are some rather interesting club nights going on down in the bar. Well, actually, there have been a couple already… the Urban Voodoo Machine had a NYE party down there, and last Saturday Julien from Loser Superhero kicked things off with a Latin Rock party. Continue reading

On Friday, 27 November at 6pm, Stokey Fashion Rocks! will return to Abney Hall for a night of charity gala glam in support of Breakthrough Breast Cancer. Already on its third outing, Stokey Fashion Rocks is a seasonal fashion show put on by our local independent boutiques and shops… this time Androulla Fashions, Hub, Red, Ribbons and Taylor, Rosa, Sunstone and Beaucatcher are taking part, and the lovely Isla Traquair will be there to help host the evening.

We are promised a return of our local firemen and other well known locals from pubs, shops, cafes and restaurants on the catwalk. This could be well interesting… who would you like to see? And in case you can’t make it, we hear that there will be a calendar on sale in mid December.

Tickets are £20 and apart from entry to this glorious event that includes a goodie bag (worth £30 alone), a meal (we know Atique Choudhury’s Yum Yum and Oishiii are involved) and a cocktail (apparently courtesy of The Three Crowns and soon to be reopened The Lion.) You don’t get that at the O2 Arena, do you?

We interrupt this site for a service announcement: If you’re looking for Stoke Newington t-shirts, mugs, bags, etc. to give away this Christmas you can now get a cool 15% off absolutely everything in our shop until 29 November by simply entering the code “NOVEMBERSALE” at check-out. Happy browsing!

We don’t usually cover venues that far from the sacred Stoke Newington borders but in this case we’ll make an exception, especially because there’s such an awesome Stokey connection…

The King's Cross Social Club

My friends, Stokey locals Helen and Hugh, have recently opened a brand new bar in King’s Cross where once famous gay pub The Golden Lion used to be. Just a short walk from the old Thameslink station, past the Big Chill House, you will find a cozy boozer that might remind you of some of your Stoke Newington favourites.

It’s that time of the year again. N16 Fringe time. From 20 to 23 August 2009 all Stoke Newington (and a lot of outlanders) will come out and play at our pubs, bars, warehouses, galleries, cafes, churches and wherever else we can have fun.

N16 Fringe Festival 2009

Oh, and is there goodness in store for you… art from Billy Childish, music from The Cesarians, Morning Bride and the City Farmers, readings by Michael Rosen and Iain Sinclair, workshops with Pinball Geoff, DJing from Mr. Andy Weatherall, and so much more. And, best of all, almost all of it is free.

Well, I guess it’s the height of summer so we might as well have a huge sale. Or rather, since it’s not been that much of a summer, maybe we’ll just give you a little sale…

Courtesy of our shopping partner Spreadshirt we can offer you 15% off everything in the Stereo Stokey Online Shop, as long as you buy at least one t-shirt or baby item (their rules, not ours). Simply enter the promotion code “SUMMER2009” when you check out and you should see the discount applied.